Guardian of Pallet Town
by The Rider of Legends
Summary: When Ash Ketchum is appointed as the Guardian of Pallet Town by Sir Aaron, he expects to have an enjoyable time while helping out the citizens. Unfortunately, evil is brewing and the Hall of Legends is struck by dark purple beams, causing Ash to lose most of his legendary powers. Will he prevail, or will he die at the hands of the traitor... AU! Ash/Cynthia
1. Chapter 1: The Guaridans of Aura

**A/N: Hey everyone, it's Rider here and I'd like to welcome you to my first ever Pokémon story! Before we start, there are a few things that I need to clear up. Firstly, the pairing is undecided! I have been unable to think of who Ash's three travelling companions are going to be (at the moment I have decided on Brock, May and Cynthia). When I get to the point that I need to chose the pairing, a poll will go up. Secondly, the plot is going to be heavily based on the Dragon Quest IX plot, but obviously with Aura Guardians, Pokémon and all that jazz! Thirdly, this chapter is JUST A TEASER! Because of this, it will be shorter than the regular chapter as I just want to see whether or not people are interested in the idea that I have. I know it is unique soooo... And finally, this story will be updated whenever I feel like writing and I have spare time! It is the holidays now so I have free time, but when school starts I will be doing my GCSEs so don't expect fast updates. Basically, the update gap could be anywhere between an hour and a year. Just a warning.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and place names of Pokémon or the storyline of Dragon Quest IX.**

**Let's get on with it!**

**Chapter 1**

_Hello? Is there anybody there?_

_If you're there, say something. Show yourself._

_Thus do the voices of the mortals plead, ever hopeful of proof of our existence..._

_For how long now have we watched over their realm...?_

_For how long have we Aura Guardians existed...?_

Pallet Town was a peaceful, quiet, place of relaxation. It was positioned right on the border of Kanto with large cliffs surrounding the outer border and a large waterfall, known as Angel Falls, that was rumoured to have the power of healing any wound or illness, apart from death. This was because the water Pokémon that lived in the small river at the bottom of the waterfall seemed as healthy as one could be. The town was populated by large wheat fields, quaint wood and stone cottages, the church and a few other buildings. The Pokémon were treated like equals and they helped with the farming and various other hard labours. Overall, it was a very pleasant place to live.

What all the mortals didn't see that the Pokémon did see, however, where the two people in blue and black uniforms hovering gently above the bridge over the river, their vibrant white wings slowly flapping to keep them airborne. One of them looked about 17, with untameable black hair and mischievous look in his eyes, a Pikachu on his shoulder. This was Ash Ketchum. The other was a few inches taller who looked to be in his mid-thirties, also with black hair, but with a more serious look in his eyes and a Lucario floating beside him. This was Riley Gen, Ash's Mentor. Everyone who walked around took no notice to them, as they were invisible to the human eye.

"You have come far, Ash." Riley spoke, a proud look in his eyes as he looked over his pupil for the last ten years. "I must confess to having my doubts when you became Guardian of the village in my stead. But it's inhabitants' continued peace and safety is proof of your devotion." Ash grinned.

"I had a good teacher, Master."

"Pika!" Now it was Riley's turn to smile.

"We are equals now, Ash. I am no longer your master." He puffed up his chest as he remembered that he was now a fully fledged Aura Guardian. "When Lord Aaron told me, 'Riley, take Ash as your apprentice', I never imagined I would see you bloom so much. You are worthy of your title indeed, Ash, Guardian of Pallet Town."

"Thank you, Riley." Suddenly Riley spun around and focused his eyes into the distance. Surprised at his sudden movements, Ash looked in the same direction and saw two of the residents, one young bluenette, her Piplup, and probably her Grandpa, of Pallet Town so they were under his protection, who were walking back home. With his super-sensitive hearing, he could hear faintly what they were saying:

"Hahh...Hahh. Don't ever get old, my dear Dawn. You don't ever want to get old." Ash guessed that it was the old man speaking.

"Oh, Grandpa. It's not much further now, I'm sure you'll make it." She replied encouragingly in her light musical voice. Suddenly Riley growled, and Ash saw why. Just up further down the road, two Rattata and a Fearow were waiting to ambush the oblivious travellers.

Riley spoke in a solemn tone. "These wicked creatures must not be allowed to ambush innocent members of your flock, Ash." He turned to look back at them. "Come, Guardian of Pallet Town, it is time to fulfil our duties as Aura Guardians." Ash whooped with joy as they shot off towards Ash's first ever, real battle.

"Ash and Riley flew until they were directly above the ambushers, before nodding at each other and dropping their Pokémon at the same time. Midair, Pikachu launched a powerful Thunderbolt at the Fearow while Lucario fired an Aura Sphere at one of the Rattata. As soon as the two attacks hit, Ash and Riley swooped down to finish the job, Ash fired a final Aura Sphere at the Fearow making it crash into the Forest, and the last Rattata just ran away once it saw what it were dealing with.

Then, in the distance, much closer than before, they heard Dawn's voice again.

"See Grandpa, there's Pallet Town up ahead."

"Aaah... I honestly believed I'd never set my tired old eyes on the place again. But here we are at last. Home."

Oh, don't be so melodramatic, Grandpa!" She scolded him, with a cute pout. "The village guardian would have been watching over us the whole way. Nothing bad could ever have happened to us. Benevolent Ash, thank you for protecting us on our journey." She spoke as she put her hands together, closed her eyes and bent her knees slightly. Once she finished they kept on walking for a minute or so, until they arrived. But that was not what Ash was focused on. He was staring at the small, blue crystal that was hovering in the air where Dawn was previously standing. Riley smiled at his reaction.

"This, Ash, is an Aura crystal. Whenever an Aura Guardian does a good deed for a mortal, some of the Aura inside of them shows it's thanks by splitting apart from its host body and manifests as these small blue crystals. As Aura Guardians, our cardinal duty is the offering up of this sacred substance to the mighty Yggdrasil, the Great World Tree. Come, Ash. Let us return to the Hall of Legends so that you may make your offering."

And with that, Ash and Riley spread their wings and shot up into the starry night sky...

**END OF TEASER**

**Well, I hope that you guys enjoyed this little teaser chapter! Remember, the more reviews, favourites and likes that I get, the more inclined I will feel to updating the story!**

**Rider Out!**


	2. Chapter 2: It Fell from the Sky!

**A/N: Hey everyone, it's Rider here and welcome back! After all this time, I have finally updated this story! Now, in case you didn't see when I updated the last chapter, I have decided that Ash's travelling companions will be Brock, May, and Cynthia. I have thought up back stories for all of them and hope to implement them in the next couple of chapters! The pairing is going to be Rayshipping (AshxCynthia). To those of you who thought that it was just a copy of Dragon Quest IX, you will see in this chapter that I have indeed changed some things significantly, but NO SPOILERS! You have to read it yourself! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and place names of Pokémon or the storyline of Dragon Quest IX.**

**Let's get on with it!**

**Previous Chapter**

_"This, Ash, is an Aura crystal. Whenever an Aura Guardian does a good deed for a mortal, some of the Aura inside of them shows it's thanks by splitting apart from its host body and manifests as these small blue crystals. As Aura Guardians, our cardinal duty is the offering up of this sacred substance to the mighty Yggdrasil, the Great World Tree. Come, Ash. Let us return to the Hall of Legends so that you may make your offering."_

_And with that, Ash and Riley spread their wings and shot up into the starry night sky..._

**Chapter 2**

The wind rushed past Ash's face as they rose higher and higher into the sky, until they couldn't even see the ground. Suddenly, up ahead they saw a mysterious silver fog which marked the entrance to the Isles of Legends. As the fog cleared up, a colossal floating island and various other smaller islands entered their sights.

The space on the main island was mostly taken up by the enormous, circular, temple-like structure that was large enough to hold a hundred houses. Large columns sprouted up around it holding up the domed roof and there were many stained glass windows that emphasised the amount of work that went into designing this place. It was known as the Hall of Legends, a building only described in myths in the mortal world and could only be seen by Pokémon and Aura Guardians.

Bells rang out across the courtyard in front of the Hall of Legends where many people and Pokémon alike milled about, talking and relaxing and sparring. These were the Guardians that were called upon for special missions to eliminate powerful threats to the peace. Because of this, they didn't have a designated area to watch over, giving them a lot of free time. Guardians like Ash were free to do as they pleased, as long as they kept a close eye on their charges.

Most of the other smaller islands were mainly the homes of the Legendary Pokémon that had chosen to come down from the Heavens to assist the Guardians in their life long task of keeping the peace. But there was island up higher than the rest, above even the Hall of Legends, that was accessible via a glowing staircase that started in the courtyard in front of the Hall. On this island resided a life-size statue of Arceus, this was where the Aura Crystals were taken. It had long been known among the Guardians that when Arceus received enough Aura Crystals, it would awake and take them all up to the Heavens as a reward for keeping the peace for so long.

Riley and Ash slowed down as they touched down in the courtyard. Riley turned to Ash.

"Come, we must report to Lord Aaron." As they approached the hulking structure of the Hall of Legends, Ash and Pikachu were looking around in awe. Most of his training had been done on one of the smaller islands and he had only ever been there once or twice. The 10 feet high oak doors were already wide open and so they strode in, down a red carpet and towards some heavily armoured Guardians. Riley nodded at them and they pushed open a smaller set of doors behind them which led to the throne room.

As they approached the throne, they went down onto one knee.

"Rise," A commanding voice spoke. Ash and Riley looked up to face a man who literally looked like an older version of Ash with a few minor differences. His name was Lord Aaron. "Welcome back, Guardians. I trust that your visit to Earth was fruitful?" Ash decided to let Riley handle the talking.

"Yes, my Lord. Ash will serve as an exceptional Guardian." Ash glowed at the praise.

"Good. Now, go and offer up your Aura Crystals to Arceus." With that, Riley pulled Ash up off his knee and they walked out of the throne room and then the building so that they were back in the courtyard. Ash was so excited, he had never been up to see Arceus before. They quickly made their way up the steps, until finally, they reached the great, glowing statue.

"Whoa!" Ash exclaimed. "It's huge!" Riley just chuckled and opened a pouch on his belt, pulling out several Aura Crystals and offering them up to the statue. The Crystals glowed bright blue before, in a flash of light, they disappeared and Arceus seemed to glow just a bit brighter. Then, nervously, Ash stepped forward and shakily raised the hand that was holding the Aura Crystal and watched in awe as it disappeared in a flash of light. Pikachu squealed in excitement while Ash let out the breath that he didn't know he was holding. Suddenly, the statue of Arceus glowed an impossibly bright light, and Ash and Riley shielded their eyes. As the light died down, they took their arms away from their faces and gasped in shock at what they saw. Arceus, the God Pokémon, was standing before them, in the flesh, alive, breathing... What was going on?! As Ash and Riley stared at him, they heard the sound of flapping wings signifying the fact that the other Guardians were also there.

"So, it has awoken at last." A voice spoke from behind them. Ash whirled around and saw Lord Aaron striding towards them, his majestic blue wings folded at his back. Arceus threw his head back and let out a deep, guttural roar. The Guardians all dropped to their knees with bowed heads as Arceus slowly floated into the air, glowing brighter and brighter and brighter until-BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Hundreds of huge purple beams shot up from below, striking the Isles of Legends and demolishing buildings. After the initial onslaught, one especially thick beam dug straight through Arceus' island and hit the God Pokémon. It roared in pain as the purple consumed it's body before falling to the Earth in a spiral of darkness. Unfortunately, Ash and Pikachu were standing quite close to Arceus having just offered the Aura Crystal to it, so he was struck by the large bits of rubble in the head causing him to stumble towards the gaping hole in the ground. The last thing Ash saw was Riley leaping out to save him but couldn't because his wings were injured, and then darkness...

_A week later_

"Good Morning, Ash!" A loud, high voice spoke from outside Ash's bedroom door. One of his eyes opened, and then the other, and then he yawned.

"Chaaaa," Pikachu stretched and sparked, signifying that he was ready for the day. Ash sat up, pulled the covers off of him and rubbed his eyes. It had been a week since he had fallen off of the Isles of Legends and in that period of time, he had found out a few things. The first thing that he had noticed when he woke up, was his lack of wings. They must have fallen off during his quick descent down to Earth but thankfully, he had landed in Angel Falls so he recovered within a day. The second thing that he noticed was the fact that everyone could see him, mortal or Pokémon. These two facts worried him slightly as he seemed to be more mortal than celestial. Finally, his Aura reserves were severely depleted. They must have been seriously drained in an attempt to help heal him. All he was left with now was the ability to shoot Aura Spheres, heal and talk to Pokémon.

"Ash! Wakey, wakey! Breakfast is ready!" That was the voice of Dawn, the young woman who had taken him in after his fall. She was sweet, but extremely talkative. He was a bit hurt that no one else wanted to take him in, after all he had been protecting them alongside Riley for several years now. But then he realised that they thought he was just some travelling minstrel who fell off of Angel Falls.

Most of the citizens of Pallet Town were ok, however, there was one guy who seemed to hate Ash since the moment he appeared there a week ago. Gary Oak. Son of the famous Professor Oak who also happened to be the Mayor of the town. Ash suspected that he liked Dawn and that he was jealous. In his opinion, Dawn liked him back, but thought he was a bit arrogant sometimes. But hey, who knows what goes on in a girl's head?

The food was pleasant, the beds were comfortable, the woods were beautiful and the Pokémon were amazing. He was having a lot of fun! Yet, he missed the calm, relaxing waters of the springs on the Isles, the companionship that he had with his other Guardian friends but above all, he missed Riley. He had been like a father to Ash when he was orphaned a year after he was born and had trained and cared for him for years! Yes, he missed Riley a lot.

Overall, he was not going through the best week of his life...

**Sorry, I know that this was rushed but I really want to get into the actual adventure part of the story so I have to get these back story bits done quickly. Anyway, as usual, please review, follow and favourite the story, it means a lot to know that you guys enjoy my writing!**

**See you all next time!**

**Rider Out!**


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